Burning Through the Silence
by Essel
Summary: Sakarya was born without a working voice box, and has always stuck to the shadows of people's lives. Republic City is booming with success and technology, but an enemy is on the rise. Sakarya doesn't know where the next Avatar is, while competing in a dangerous sport. Turns out, it only takes one thing to get out of the dark. OC!Avatar
1. Chapter One: Before It All Started

**This is my first fan-fiction that I've ever published, so I'd really appreciate some reviews! Constructive criticism is very welcome! This is basically a story about the next avatar who doesn't know who she really is, while as a skilled firebender she is put up to compete for her school in a dangerous bending sport. I know that this may be more along the lines of LoK fan-fiction, but I'd rather post it here. Hope you enjoy it!**

*I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or The Legend of Korra.

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Sakarya looked at her reflection in the mirror. Today she was being forced to go back to school after a beautiful summer break. Unfortunately, no matter how hard she tried forget about it, this day had been looming in her mind the entire season. But she knew she shouldn't get herself worked up over it; everyone else will be too worried about paying attention to themselves than to other people anyhow.

Satisfied with her plain outfit of skinny jean, a line patterned shirt, and her favorite pair of brown tie up boots, she threw her dark brown hair up into it's usual ponytail. She threw on her backpack after she checked to make sure everything was in there and practically fell down the stairs going down them so fast.

"Woah, careful there eel-hound," Her father, Tazek, teased. "Don't want to break your face the first day of the school year." Sakarya only smiled, using sign language to tell him that he was oh so funny.

Her ten year old brother squeezed past his sister and the wall, "It looks like she's already broken it."

"Jocuri, be nice to your sister!" Sakarya's father yelled after the boy. She rolled her eyes and followed Jocuri and her other brother Enzei out the front door. She didn't have time to figuratively yell at him like she normally would, she could already hear the roar of the high school bus down the road. She was so happy she didn't have to deal with those two on the bus. Thankfully the elementary school now had its own bus on this route.

She walked up to the yellow machine as it pulled to a stop in front of her. The doors opened and she slinked in, finding her usual seat in the middle of the bus. She only got one or two stares from some freshman. The infamous mute girl walking right in front of their eyes. She snickered at the thought. Most people thought her muteness was a choice like a lot of other people, but her voice box was actually in terrible shape. It had been that way since she was born. But it wasn't like she could tell everybody that to their face; most of the idiots that were at her school didn't know sign language.

Sakarya bided her time of the ten minute drive to her school (she was thankfully one of the last stops) listening to music or playing a game on her phone. The worst scenarios that could ever happen were running through her mind in the background even though she kept trying to ignore them.

Everyone was standing anxiously when the bus stopped in front of the large school. The students spilled out eventually from the bus and Sakarya bowed her head as to not look at anyone. She only had a few friends at school and she knew they would recognize her if they saw her so she didn't need to spot them out.

She went through the doors and immediately appreciated the fact that she was no longer a freshman; she could see how scared some of them were, and that all of the upperclassmen were practically running over them. She pulled out her schedule to get her attention off the unfortunate freshmeat around her and studied her schedule again. First period was academic biology... great. That was with the really uptight teacher, Ms. Humi. Then she had fire elemental studies, gym, elemental practice, and national history right before lunch. Alright, she could handle all of that stuff. After that she had academic english, algebra II, study hall and... huh, her last period of the day was missing. She'll just go down during study hall to ask the office about it. No big deal.

"Oh my gosh, Sakarya!" She heard someone yell behind her. She turned in time for someone to start squeezing the life out of her. She made a choking noise and tapped on the person's shoulder to get their attention and she was dropped too suddenly back on the ground. She knew it would be Amara; the brown-eyed girl could never show enough affection to her friends. She also didn't know how to control her earthbending very well, so sometimes Sakarya would get a couple pebbles to the face. The girl was so flawed she made an amazing friend.

Sakarya signed how are you? to her friend. "I'm doing awesome girly, how are you? Was your summer awesome possum?"

A stupid smile came to Sakarya's face. _I guess. I had fun._

"Oh didn't we all," Amara replied. "But then again, I did miss my view of Renu's butt..." Sakarya knew exactly who she was talking about. Renu was the school's popular guy, despite being a non-bender. Amara has pretty much been in love with him since she left her diapers.

 _You've never even talked to him_. She had to say it. It always got Amara lost for words.

"Well... I'll do it this year!" Sakarya had heard that one before. Many times actually.

 _You haven't changed at all_.

Amara laughed and agreed. The bell rung and spooked the both of them. They hugged and separate ways. Sakarya had to find her locker quickly so Ms. Humi wouldn't try to murder her. Locker 118, 118, 118... she got to the hall where she knew the hundreds were and almost stopped dead in her tracks when she saw who was next to her locker. On one side was the school's 'tough guy' Emi. Then on her left was Renu. Amara was going to kill her if she didn't anger Emi somehow and already be dead. She was going to be walking on glass this entire year.

The slowly approached her locker, putting in the passcode. Emi saw her out of the corner of his eye, making her swallow her nervousness. He slammed his locker and caused her to flinch. When the boy started to walk away was when she realized she hadn't been breathing.

"Don't worry, Emi's all bark, no bite," A voice on her left said. She turned her head and saw it was Renu talking to her, much to her surprise. She gave him a small smile and closed her locker, following the same direction Emi had walked off to. Time for school to officially start.

Sakarya dodged a red fireball, with it nearly singing her shirt. She glared at the person who had thrown it so quickly at her. That boy was getting way too close for comfort with his bending.

"Emi! I said get familiar with your partner, not burn her to death!" The teacher, Mr. Itsuki, yelled. She had been in elemental practice not even five minutes and her luck was the worst in the world. She knew that your partner changed so you have a different one every grading period, but she had gotten the worst person in the world to practice fire-bending with.

Emi smiled sarcastically. "Yes, Mr. Itsuki." The look in his eye was just evil.

But Mr. Itsuki wasn't finished. "I'm serious, Emi. Remember what happened to poor Hitomi last year?" Sakarya shivered at the memory. Emi had been in her class last year as well, though he was never her partner. But one of his partner's had angered him, and she was sent to the infirmary with first degree burns. That girl was never the same, which was why her parents put a restraining order on Emi and moved her to a different school. Everyone knew he felt bad about how his temper got the best of him, but it had scared them too.

"Yes, Mr. Itsuki," Emi said again, only seriously this time. The next fireball was much more controlled, but when Sakarya took it from him she could feel the pulsing shield around it. He had a lot of trouble controlling his power. That was not good for both of them. She sent it back to him and it repeated. This was what always happened with a new partner. You were paired with someone with the same bending as you, you would keep a control ball of whatever it was that you were and pass, and talk. It was some kind of bonding thing according to Mr. Itsuki. Except that Sakarya couldn't talk, so all of her partners hated her. But they never talked to her about it. They were as silent as she was.

As the minutes went by, she could feel the fire coming from Emi pulse more and heat up. He was getting irked for some reason. She pretended not to know, but it only got worse.

"Why don't you talk?" He blurted out, letting the fireball grow larger. She shrunk it and shrugged her shoulders. "What does that mean?" His temper was getting worse. As if by some miracle Mr. Itsuki called an end to the class and she ran to her backpack. When the bell rang she gave Emi no time to force his question to be answered.

In the hallway Amara caught up with her to head to the only class they shared, national history. They talked about bits and bobs, and Sakarya blatantly did not bring up the Emi situation, especially not the Renu-locker thing. She just escaped death, she didn't want to have to do it again. Once they arrived to the class and seats were assigned, Mr. Ayumu started the class with talking about the most important thing to have ever happened to the United Republic; the Avatar line.

"As you all know, Avatar Aang started this nation. What you don't know, is how he came to become the leader of so many people and what he had to do. That is what we will be incorporating into our first few lessons," He explained. A kid raised his hand and Mr. Ayumu let him speak.

"What about Avatar Korra? And theories about the next Avatar?" He asked.

Mr. Ayumu nodded his head. "Very good question Hachiro," He said. "We will learn about Avatar Korra next semester. As for theories about the next Avatar, we will discuss those as they come along. Would anyone like to bring one up?" He asked.

A girl raised her hand. "That the Avatar isn't needed anymore," She said. That was the one that most people believed, but Sakarya wasn't so sure. There were still a lot of problems with the world, so there was no way that was true.

Mr. Ayumu chose another student to contradict her. "There are still many reasons that the Avatar is still needed. Not everything is, you know, cool with the Spirits yet. And there's a whole bunch of high level crime in the world. Not to forget that our last president was an embezzler. You would think the Avatar would be needed to have prevented that, right?" The boy said.

Satisfied with that answer, the female student let the conversation be settled. Another student soon raised their hand and the process went on.

The Avatar kept dying at infancy, the Avatar is hidden, the Avatar doesn't know who they are, the Avatar is in the Spirit world, the Avatar was kidnapped. There were so many theories out there. People once said that they didn't need the Avatar, so why, after fifteen years, do a lot of them still believe that it is out there? Avatar Korra had died just before her age group had been born, so that was where the governments of the world were looking but to no avail. Avatar Korra's death was terrible, so a lot believed that she was angry and did not allow another Avatar to be born. But that made no sense. The Avatar had no say in that according to legend.

Amara snapped her out of her deep thinking when she all but jumped on her to get Sakarya's attention.

"Come on, the bell rang," She said.

Oops, sorry. Sakarya got all her stuff together and headed out the door. She went through the rest of her day pretty well. No nearly burned shirts, locker accidents, or something equally worse. The school lunch had almost made her barf though. That stuff did not taste good, and it wasn't even healthy. Seriously, slop is not human food.

Now it had gotten around to study hall and the teacher had let her go up the office to ask about the missing eighth period ordeal. Turns out about eight other students were in the office at the same time. The office woman had them all sit down, and some even had to sit on the floor. sakarya was of course one of those people. She didn't really know any of these people, and apparently none of them knew each other because no one was talking. It was actually kind of creepy how silent everyone was.

The woman cleared her throat out before she started talking. "The eight of you have been chosen to be part of a special program that has just started in this school. All of you are aware of the regional and world competitions of bending, correct?" Of course they all knew, it was like their own real life Hunger Games. Except there was no death, fortunately. It was where special students from around the world were put in a ring and it was basically like a karate competition mixed with Pro-Bending. It is really dangerous but no one has died yet. Sakarya sat straight up when she realized what this was... oh no...

"With the permission of all of your guardians, the school has chosen you to represent it in the competitions. You have all shown a high level of capability in your respective bending abilities. I know it sounds daunting, but it is mandatory that you at least go to one competition before quitting, just so you know what you'll be missing out on," She looked at them what seemed a bit like pity. "Your last period of the day, and after the school day has ended if you wish, will be when your practice is. You all have study halls right before then so you can come down then as well. There are only a few of you, and the school does not want to cause jealousy over what has happened, so it is required for you to sign a document stating that you will not release this information to someone who will abuse it until our first competition."

The nine of them just shared blank looks with each other. Only one of them was smiling, and two were actually starting to shake in fear. Sakarya felt like she might join them at any moment. Why would her parents ever agree to this?

One by one, they each signed the document. They had this not even an hour from the moment the pen touched the paper. One thing Sakrya knew for sure, was that she was not the right person to do this. She could feel it. This was not going to end well.

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 **Hope everyone liked it! Please leave a review if you want, I'd really appreciate it! :)**


	2. Chapter Two: A Fight's a Fight

**On to the second chapter! Hope ya like it. :)**

*I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or the Legend of Korra.

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Sakarya looked anxiously at the clock above the classroom door. Five minutes before the last class of the day. Possibly of my life, she thought in her head. The competitions were not something to be joked about. She had heard that the average student had very rough and hard training at school. It had something to do with scholarships for national champions now, although it used to be only for floating a school's ego.

Four minutes. Sakarya had seen the matches on TV before, and they were never pretty. Only last year had a fourteen year old girl damaged her spine and got paralyzed. That was one of the worst injuries she had ever seen. People treated it like life or death even though it was a choice.

Three minutes. Maybe she could drop out after the first competition. According to a survey she saw on the document she had signed about 67% dropped out after the first competition, so she bet that another kid or two in her class wouldn't stick around. But then again, it practically brings you fame.

Two minutes. Sakarya decided she would give it an actual shot. It was a month from this coming Friday, so she practically had five weeks to prepare. She hoped that was enough time. They had levels of the competition, so she would be on the first level, but some of the kids she had seen before had been training since they could walk.

One minute. Okay, if she liked it, she would continue on with it. The signing document said that they would be training outside in the extra gym. It was a pretty small gym, so it would be a tight fit until some people quit. She was just going to hope they didn't have to change into gym clothes because that stuff does not smell good.

The bell rang sharply in her ears and she gathered up her stuff before bolting out of the door. She had to find Amara and explain to her that she was staying late. She wanted to know exactly what was going to be happening in that gym, and get as much a head start as she could.

Sakarya caught up with Amara at the dark blondes' locker signing to her. Hey, I have to stay late today. I didn't understand a syllabus in a class.

Amara understood, hugging her goodbye before she caught up with a few other friends. Sakarya felt bad for lying, but she would tell her the truth later.

After Sakarya had avoided trouble at her locker and put her books in, she began walking outside. Another student in her training class caught up with her. She was a tall girl, with icy blue eyes and her dark brown hair nearly reached the floor.

"Hi, I'm, um, Kiana. You're in my next... Class... Right?" She asked. Sakarya nodded her head. Kiana must be the shy type. Her head was bowed down and she walked with her hands in front of her. They were clasping each other so tight her knuckles had gone white against her dark complexion.

"Yeah, and you're Sakarya?" Again she nodded her head. "Well it's nice to meet you. Are you nervous?" Sakarya nodded her head again, even though she wasn't sure what she was feeling. All we could feel was that it was wrong. Fighting only for competition. She had never liked the competition, but now that she knew she was going into it, she wanted to be prepared for the worst.

Sakarya and Kiana walked in silence, pushing through the doors. About four of the other students were also in the courtyard leading to the gym. Only the two who had been shivering in fear were missing. The smile guy was practically skipping. That boy was weird. Why anyone would be excited about something like this was beyond Sakarya.

When they reached the gym, they saw three teachers inside. Mr. Itsuki, dressed in a blue fighting suit; Ms. Akiko in a green one; Mr. Hideaki in a red suit. The suits were similar to the old pro-bending, but with thinner and more sturdy padding that's been developed since the old past-time. That must mean they would be training their respective benders. There still weren't enough air-benders in the world for them to be allowed in the competitions, simply because it would give a team an unfair advantage.

The students awkwardly shuffled in; Sakarya felt like Mr. Hideaki was glaring at her. He was a very grumpy man, even though he wasn't that old.

"Hello everyone," Mr. Itsuki started. "As you all know by now, you will be training for competitions. For practice, we will be in here unless practicing a habitat arena. I will give you all more information on exactly what it is that we're doing after today." Sakarya was getting more nervous by the second

Ms. Akiko stepped forward now. "For practice, we also have fighting suits. Once you change into these, you will come out here and receive the real introduction to this course," She announced.

One by one, the students went up to each teacher, receiving a part of their uniform. They were each slightly different, and there were two waterbenders, three earthbenders, and Sakarya was the only firebender present even though there was supposed to be two more. There was also a waterbender missing. Sakarya followed the other two girls into the locker room to change. They were all dead silent as they got into their fighting suits. Sakarya's was dark red and it was made out of stretchable leather like the others were. The boots were a bit darker, and the laces were black. The more seconds ticked by, the faster her heart raced.

When she was done, she headed back into the gym, the other girls close behind her.

The teachers were still there waiting. Ms. Akino had a strong build, especially for a woman, but she had always seemed to be graceful in the way she moved. From what Sakarya had heard, she had been a police officer before she got her teaching degree. Mr. Itsuki was a good guy, Sakarya supposed. She only had him for semester study hall last year, but he was a shorter man with a gentle face. Mr. Hideaki was a different story altogether. He was the youngest teacher in school, but by far the worst. She has him for her woodshop elective, and she did last year as well. She was pretty sure he hated her, if his glares were enough to go by. He could have been considered handsome, if it weren't for the huge scar that went from the top left cheek bone, down over his mouth and stopping at the right bottom part of his chin. It was a scar that made his expressions that much darker.

"Good, now let's just wait for the boys," Ms. Akiko said with a grin. She looked at the female earth bender with interest, obvious now that they were in their respective bending suits. She was a short girl with a pixie cut, and she had a slender form. Sakarya wouldn't have guessed she was an earthbender.

Kiana had gone up and started talking to Mr. Itsuki, but they kept their voices hushed. When the boys came in, they were much louder than the girls. Two earthbenders and a waterbender, getting along like a house on fire. That meant that there were a total of three students missing.

Suddenly, the doors swung open and caused the conversation going on between Kiana and the teacher to stop. Two boys and a girl walked in. Sakarya remembers them from the office. They all looked way too happy to be here. More so than the one smiling guy who was already here, and was, in fact, a waterbender.

"Mr. Hideaki walked up to them, two red suits and a blue suit in hand. "You're late. Get changed," He said as he shoved the suits into the three waiting hands. The girl was handed a red suit, as was one of the boys, and the other boy got the blue suit. None of them seemed fazed by Mr. Hideaki's expression on his face as they walked in the direction of the locker rooms.

"Rule number one kids, is that tardiness will not be accepted," Mr. Itsuki said, walking towards the group of students who had arrived on time. Sakarya realized Kiana had rejoined them silently.

Mr. Hideaki went to stand beside his fellow teacher. "With that said, we will now separate and explain the rules to each group of benders to make this as easy as possible," The firebender explained. "Firebenders with me, waterbenders to Mr. Itsuki, and earthbenders to Ms. Akiko."

Sakarya received a pitying look from Kiana as she went over to Mr. Itsuki. Everyone separated in the gym and soon enough, Sakarya was left alone with the firebending teacher. Could those other firebenders get out here sooner, please?

"Have you ever watched these competitions Sakarya?" He asked, to which she nodded. "Have you ever used your bending to fight?" Another nod. "Do you enjoy bending?" A shrug this time. He gave a huff, giving her no more questions.

The other two firebenders jogged into the room, as well as the waterbender. They looked a bit similar, as if they were all related. Of course, the girl and boy had the typical gold eyes, and the one boy had blue. But they had similar soft noses, sharp cheekbones, black straight hair, and not tan but not pale skintone. The girl had long hair past her shoulders, and so did the waterbender though he had his up in a ponytail. The other firebender has short hair, longer in the front. All good-looking as well. She decided they were definitely related, even though she had never seen them before. It was a big school after all.

The groups were now all complete.

"Now that you two slackers are here," Mr. Hideaki started eliciting an eye roll from both of the newcomers, "I need to explain everything. The sport is called com-bending, the shortened version of 'competition bending' just like pro-bending was the shortened version of 'professional bending'. I'm sure you've all heard of it, or seen it on TV. It's where three benders of the same type go against three benders of the same type, though not necessarily of each other. As a firebending group, you will go against waterbenders, earthbenders, and fellow firebenders. The higher levels you go to will have you mostly fighting your own bending type. You must work as a team in an arena to make sure the other team stays down and unable to fight back. That's mostly via incapacitating them in some way or another. Any questions?" He finished.

Sakarya raised her hand awkwardly, and the teacher gave her a nod. She signed to him, Can I even compete? I can't speak or even make noise.

"Yes, you can and will compete, you're one of the best firebenders I've seen in this school. There are no rules against mutes," He said, and the other two snickered. Sakarya glared at them, but Mr. Hideaki didn't seem to even hear them.

"No more questions? Alright," Mr. Hideaki said, and then clapped his hands. "To start out, you three will learn how each other fights. Ezuka, Eroh, I'm sure you know each other's abilities well enough being siblings, so both of you will fight Sakarya on your own. Eroh, Sakarya, please go onto the red mat."

Sakarya's gold eyes widened as the boy, Eroh, started making his way onto the large red mat that was behind them. She had to fight them both? Today? There was no way she could do that, she'd be out of juice by the end of the first fight! But with a sharp look from the teacher, her legs started moving against her will towards and onto the mat.

She sent a little prayer to any spirit that was listening and took a fighting stance on the mat. Immediately Eroh flashed a whip of sharp orange fire at her, and she narrowly dodged it. Oh he was gonna get it. Sakarya sent two fireballs at him, and quickly swiped her leg down by his feet, making a trail of light orange fire trip him off balance and on to his back as he tried to escape it. He wasted no time in getting up while she started running towards him, using as much speed as she dared in this gym. With flames leading her hand, she landed a punch in his left side while she grabbed his right arm to keep his fire away from her. She could hear him gasp for air and it gave her a sick grin. She pushed him away from her just barely and finished the job with a kick to the chest. He landed on the mat with a loud smack. She stood above him, her light fire in the form of whips, daring him to get up again.

"Alright! Good job Sakarya, sloppy form Eroh," Mr. Hideaki said, breaking the silence that had awkwardly ensued after Eroh had landed on the mat for the final time. She let the fire whips dissipate and looked around the gym, breathing heavily. The other two fights had stopped, just watching the firebenders. Everyone looked wide-eyed at the two, save for their own teacher.

Eroh growled as he got onto his feet, glaring daggers into Sakarya. Lots of glaring today, Sakarya thought with frown. She hadn't expected to lose her temper a bit during the fight, but Eroh had asked for it. She knew she was good at bending, her father being an old pro-bender had taught her everything he knew from a young age. He was probably the one to convince her mother to say yes to the whole 'send your kid to die in an arena' thing anyway.

Sakarya left the mat, sitting on the bleachers a few feet away from the brooding boy. The other fights restarted, and when Mr. Hideaki said she could take a minute to relax, she decided seeing the others fight would be more entertaining than trying to apologize to Eroh.

One the waterbending mat was Eroh's lookalike, probably his brother. Sakarya was guessing they were triplets. They all looked around sixteen, seventeen years old. Huh. Scary triplets. Wonderful.

Eroh's brother was up against Kiana, and she was losing badly if the panic in her eyes was any indicator. She was also on the edge of the blue mat, meekly trying to push her attacker back. The boy was able to get her on to the ground and kept her there with ice on her wrists. Sakarya flinched at the sight, even though she knew Kiana would be alright. The suits kept the fighters from getting burns, frostbite, broken bones, and cuts, but you still felt the temperature and the pain from all four. The girl who had broken her back had a faulty suit, and when she was crushed with a boulder, well, her suit didn't do its job.

On the green mat, the smiling boy was cheering on the girl while the boy she was against was trying his best to get off the ground. The more she watched it up close, these practices seemed a lot like wrestling. If only the real sport was like that in the arena.

"Ready, Sakarya? You still have to go against Ezuka," The teacher said.

Sakarya sighed and got up, making her way back to the red mat. She stood on her side, and on the opposite side was Ezuka. She was intimidating, but that seemed to run in her genes. Her gold eyes studied Sakarya closely as they both got into stances. The air felt tensed as they waited for someone to make the first move. Ezuka didn't seem as haughty as before her brother had lost. If Eroh hadn't been so arrogant and been more on guard, Sakarya doubted she could have won. She was guessing it was going to be the case with Ezuka. Almost a minute in, and no movement from either girl. Ezuka was being smart.

Finally, her opponent made a move. A fireball whizzed past Sakarya's head, but when she tried to sidestep it another one went straight for her, making her duck. Only a second later, Ezuka was sending a ray of fire right at her chest while she was still close to the ground. It knocked her down and landed roughly on the ground, pain shooting up through her back. Ezuka made a move to hammer her down furthermore into the mat with flames, but Sakarya quickly rolled out of the way and on to her feet. She rushed at Ezuka, using her light fire followed by her hands to try and push her back. Ezuka barely staggered back a step when Sakarya kicked fire across her torso when she got close enough. Ezuka sent flames right towards Sakarya's head, and she barely was able to bend back enough to not get caught by it. She could feel some of her fly away hairs sizzling. Ezuka ran, swinging her leg around and kicked Sakarya in the back of her knees, force the girl to drop. As she went down, Ezuka grabbed hold of her shoulders, using them to help her flip to the losing girl's front. As Sakarya felt her back hit the mat, a wall of fire appeared in front of her, keeping her from getting up. The pain in her thighs from having her legs bent under her was burning.

A few seconds ticked by before the teacher's voice ended the fight. Again, everyone stared as the loser got up, but this time the loser was Sakarya. She huffed out a breath when she got to her feet, and was surprised to see Ezuka still standing there. The mute held her hand out to her, hoping to convey the message of 'good game' to her. Ezuka seemed to understand perfectly and took the other girl's hand, shaking it. She left to join her brother, and Sakarya heard the teacher grumble about 'everyone's form sucked'.

Maybe this wasn't so bad. At least she didn't die the first day. Basically the day consisted of the teacher picking apart their fights, and the group talking to each other about their styles of combat. Ezuka seemed plenty friendly, though she smiled maybe once. Eroh, however, looked disgruntled. After the end of the school day bell rang, Sakarya couldn't believe it hadn't gone horribly. She had decided to leave and go on the bus ride home, versus staying after school. Since it was the first day, it didn't really matter and everyone except the triplets did exactly was Sakarya chose to do. On her way home, she almost felt a bit of excitement for com-bending.

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 **Made this chapter a bit longer than the last one, but I can't promise it will always be this long, lol. Heads up, I did upload chapter one and two at the same time, so if you've left a review, I'll get to it in the next chapter! So, leave a review if ya want (I'm probably coming across pretty desperate, sorry lol)! :)**


	3. Chapter Three: I'll Keep My Lanterns Lit

**On to chapter three! Thank you guys so much for reviewing, it means the world to me! 3 Hope you enjoy the new chapter! I'm finally putting some of the more Avatar aspects of the story into play now, and I promise it will really start picking up soon.**

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The next day was just as the first day was. When Sakarya told Amara about everything late at night, Amara had freaked out. She started coming up with different plans for Sakarya to get out of it early, or to at least participate the least possible in the first competition. Sakarya just said she was pretty okay with it all. It was a sport know to give lifetime injuries, but what sport didn't do that?

Amara reluctantly backed off but said Sakarya's father Tazek was going to get an earful of it from her. Sakarya sighed after reading that text. Shebhadnt talked to her father about it yet, but her father have her knowing looks when he caught her lost in her own thoughts. Her mother was acting like she was walked on thin ice whenever she came around, which was only after the first day of school. Her parents separated not long after her youngest brother, Enzei, had been born. They just didn't love each other anymore, and it was civil, so the three kids at least got to be with both of their parents year round.

Now, it was the fifth day of school, and Sakarya only had to go do everything school related once more and she had an entire weekend off. Her aching muscles had started complaining only a few days in, and now they were practically screaming. Not to mention that Amara was bringing her to the Remembrance Day Festival, something as a firebender she didn't like to participate in. It remembered the war when the Fire Nation attacked the rest of the world under Fire Lord Sozin, and all the lives lost and the soldiers that fought against the oppression. Firebenders often got attacked on the holiday due to drunk, bitter people.

Sakarya shook her mind of these thoughts as she walked into the school and headed towards her locker. As long as she stayed with Amara tonight, she'd be safe and alive.

When she got to her locker, she was surprised to see her usual neighbors werent there, but instead it was Ezuka and her eaterbending brother, who Sakarya now knew as Rokun. His long hair was no linger in a ponytail, like it had been the first day, but he still wore his stoic expression. Ezuka, however, greeted Sakarya with a smile.

"Hey Sakarya! We were going to stay late after school today and then head to the festival. Wanna join us?" The firebender asked.

Sakarya thought for a moment, before getting a notebook out and writing on it since neither of them knew sign language. Ezuka was trying to learn it, since they were teammates, but she wasn't very good at it yet. 'Sorry, I already made plans to go with someone tonight, but I'd be happy to go there with you guys and just meet my friend there.'

"Okay, sounds good! See ya later Sakarya!" Ezuka said enthusiastically, or as much as the intimidating girl could get. Her brother gave a nod to the mute and followed his sister when she headed down the hall.

At first, Sakarya had been surprised that Ezuka became so open to her, unlike her brother Eroh. Eroh still refused to really talk to the girl, except for critiquing her. Rokun didn't talk much, but when he did his low voice always had neutral things to say. Nothing rude, nothing polite. Just in the middle.

The only class worth mentioning was Mr. Ayumi's class, National History. For the entire week, other than the syllabus, they'd recapped a few of the more noteworthy Avatars. Today was the day they were finally going to start discussing the missing Avatar before getting into the textbook and following that curriculum.

"So, everyone knows about the missing avatar, yeah?" Mr. Ayumi asked the class a few minutes after the bell rang and class started. Heads nodded in answer. "And I'm sure you all know the Avatar should be about your age now. What we know of the current Avatar, if there is one and they have yet to die, is what? Can anyone tell me?" He questioned the class.

A girl raised her hand, and was called on. "They should be an earthbender." Mr. Ayumi nodded.

Another hand. "Their gender is not set, since it is random." Another nod from the teacher.

A few more hands went into the air. More answers, some wrong, most correct. The Avatar was being hunted down, but also searched for. Then it branched out from that. There were groups who wanted the Avatar to no longer exist, some who did. Where the world needed the Avatar the most, the least. Possible places the Avatar could be.

Sakarya thought this was all redundant. The likelihood that someone in this class would find the Avatar was slim at best. Sakarya personally believed the Avatar to be in hiding, nothing more. Avatar Aang had hidden for a hundred years, even if it wasn't on purpose. He had still been gone.

"Sakarya," The teacher called on her, making her eyes snap to him because she had been dozing off. "Where do you think the Avatar is?" He asked.

She signed, _gone_. Mr. Ayumi's eyes seemed to flash a light grey in those few milliseconds after her reply, and she had to rub her eyes to check if his green eyes really had changed. But when she looked at him again, they were back to their earthy color. She brushed it off, thinking nothing of it. But whenever her mind floated back to it, she got chills along her back.

Otherwise, the day flew by, and fortunately her terrible locker neighbor and partner in elemental studies, Emi, didn't try to kill her. During eighth period, it was more sparring but now they were two vs two. Mr. Hideaki would be with whoever didn't have a partner, so Sakarya had fought alongside him since, but against him twice. Surprisingly, Eroh wasn't bad at fighting with Sakarya. They even almost managed to win, since the teacher was slamming them down with a lot of power, and adding Ezuka in with it made it extremely hard to leave the fight unscathed.

The other benders were going through similar processes. Two vs two, mostly losing against the teacher. They were not going easy on any of them. They were already good fighters, but they had to get much better if they didn't want to get pummeled at the first competition in a month.

By the end of the after school session, Sakarya was sweating and her bones ached. When she went to the locker room, she and Ezuka just sat on the benches, panting and waiting for the world to stop spinning. They and Rokun were the only ones to stay after school, even though Eroh usually stayed after as well. The teachers really stepped it up a notch, which the three hadn't been expecting and they were hit with a lot. Sakarya knew she was going to have bruises form by the end of the night.

Pulling up the festival in Ezuka's car, Sakarya felt her heartbeat speed up. She already knew where she was supposed to meet up with Amara at, so that wasn't her biggest worry. She'd only been to one other festival when she was about nine, and she got to see a bunch of people gang up on a firebender before her dad picked her up and ran back to the car. Her brothers, one being a nonbender and the other an earthbender, often went to these with their mother. It was something she was never really interested in after that incident.

She waved goodbye to two of the triplets and started walking towards the festival. It was getting dark out now, and the bright lights gave her plenty of vision. There were games, small competitions, and even a Ferris wheel to go on. For such a depressing idea behind the holiday, people took advantage of it to have fun to honor those who couldn't during the was also common at these things, as were after-parties. So only half of it was really child friendly.

Sakarya wasted no time in getting to where she needed to be and a breath of relief left her when she saw Amara waiting for her. "Sakarya!" The loud girl greeted her friend, bringing her into a big hug. "I'm so so glad you decided to come. Come on, we have to do as much as we can before the lanterns!" She continued, Sakarya nodding in response as her friend grabbed her hand and started dragging her everywhere. It wasn't a good idea to stay out too long after the lanterns, since that's when the adults started to drink and have a good time.

Together through the next two hours, they hit the water shooting game, basketball, the rope ladder, the Ferris wheel, and the fun houses. All in all, it was a good time. Sakarya occasionally saw Ezuka and Rokun, whom Eroh had now joined. The firebender wandered if he just didn't want to be around her more than he had to be. She shrugged the thought off, just glad that the firebending boy wasn't alone today. She would wave to them as they passed each other and that was that. No time to dwell on dark thoughts when she could do that later.

Finally, the girls' end of the night was coming up. They each bought a lantern, thanking the man who created them for this night, and headed to the small lake right next to the festival. It was custom to write a name on the inside of the lantern of someone you wished luck to or wanted to apologize to. It was a nice touch to the holiday, Sakarya thought. Most people wrote down anyone they knew from the war, or perhaps the Avatar. Maybe even world leaders of that time. Otherwise little kids wrote their best friend's name, or even their family.

The two benders stood at the edge of the small body of water in silence. Not many people were speaking now, and the festival seemed to just go quiet as people wrote inside their lanterns. When Amara finished with the pen, she handed it to Sakarya. It took a moment for the firebender to think of someone. In the end, she decided to write 'To those who felt pain for those they love, may your lantern never lose its light'.

Soon, lanterns started to fill the sky as people let them go, their fire bringing each name and wish up towards the stars. Amara let hers go, and then Sakarya took her grip on her own lantern off. The sky was a mix of soft orange lanterns, the black night sky, and the bright stars. It made Sakarya happy that she had come.

Amara started to leave the edge of the lake, and Sakarya followed. The walk back home was quiet, but not an awkward one. Rather, it was contemplative, and full of emotion. Amara hugged her when Sakarya arrived to her house, and waved goodnight to her when the firebender closed the door.

Sakarya's father was in the living room, watching television and greeted her warmly, though with a bit of caution. "How'd it go?" He asked from the living room. Sakarya sat on the chair next to her dad and signed Pretty good, got to send a lantern out.

"Good, good. That's always a nice time," He said, obviously happy nothing had happened to the teen. Sakarya smiled in response. For the next bit of time the two just watched the screen until Sakarya decided she wanted to go to sleep. It had been a long day.

As she climbed into bed, she couldn't help but have a feeling of peace.

 _She was at the edge of a lake, although it was a different one from a festival. There was a lantern in her hands as well, but even her hands looked different. Paler, much more nimble than her own. She looked around and saw a beautiful girl standing beside her, and she was looking at her with a loving smile. Who was she? And why did Sakarya get such a great feeling of love when she saw the girl's blue eyes?_

 _"Aang, you don't have to write in the lantern if you don't want to," The girl said, making Sakarya even more confused. Wind blew around the two of them, and she realized they were alone. The girl's dark brown hair moved with the wind, but the firebender could not feel any of her own hair do such a thing._

 _Sakarya sighed without her willing it so. She began to feel like this was no longer her in control, but someone else. "I know, Katara. But there are so many people I want to write down. I have hurt so many people, but at the same time I know I've helped more. I want to write down everyone's names," She said, her voice seemed more male._

 _Katara nodded sadly. "They know you didn't want to hurt them, Aang. You're more than making up for it, and you didn't do it on purpose unless they deserved it. All the people you've met in your life know how amazing a person you are," She said._

 _The body Sakarya was in, Aang, stopped speaking, staring at the lantern. A few minutes later, the graceful hand picked up the pen and began writing. What the hand wrote made Sakarya feel a sharp pang in her heart. 'To those who I've met in my life, may your lantern never lose its light.'_

And then her dreams faded into black.

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 **So what'd you guys think of my little Aang/Katara scene? I hope it was good. Leave a review if ya want!**


	4. Chapter Four: For the Fire

**So some stuff went wrong with the first chapter, lol. I realized how horrible my spellcheck is, so I tried to fix it but like an idiot I deleted the chapter, added a new one, and just made that one chapter one, so I lost some views and stuff. But whatever. Just made me realize I could probably use a beta reader, so if you're interested, send me a PM! Enjoy the chap!**

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Light flooded on to her face as Sakarya rolled on her side. Her mind was foggy from the heavy sleep, but soon the memory of her dream came rushing back to her in full clarity. Adrenaline shot through her immediately and she opened her gold eyes, bolting out of bed. She didn't waste any time as she flew down the stairs and into the living room.

Her father sat on the couch watching the news when Sakarya blocked his view of the TV. She signed to him, _Dad, I need to go to the temple. It's important._

Her father crossed his arms. "No Sakarya. Five firebenders got attacked last night and they don't know where the people who hurt them are. It's too dangerous."

 _But Dad, it's extremely important!_ She tried to defend herself.

Tazek stood up now. "No means no Sakarya! One of the kids is dead, and three more are in critical condition! Whatever you think is so important is not worth your safety. It's too dangerous for us out there," He continued, yelling at first but his voice quieted by the end. His gold eyes softened when he saw the look of hurt flash across his daughter's face.

The look was soon replaced by one of anger, and Sakarya stomped up the stairs. She stormed past her six year old brother Enzei in the hallway and slammed her door closed. She had to get to the temple!

An idea came to mind. Amara was fifteen years old like Sakarya, but the firebender had another friend with a driver's license- and a car. So she decided to text that friend.

 **Hey, I'm really sorry about texting you so early but I need a ride to the East Temple. It's immensely important. And I know about the firebenders who got attacked last night, but like I said, this is incredibly important.** She pressed send, and waited for Ezuka to respond.

It came not ten seconds later. **I can give you a lift. If you say it's important, I don't doubt it.**

Sakarya sighed a breath of relief. **Thank you so much. I'll text you my address, and I'll see you in 15 minutes?**

 **Sounds like a plan.**

In those fifteen minutes, Sakarya didn't waste a second. She dressed, threw her hair in its typical pony tail, grabbed her phone and extra money, and planned an escape from her room. She couldn't let her dad know she left. So she put on a playlist of TV shows on her computer, locked her door, and left her window blinds open. Then, she opened her window. Her bedroom was on the side of the house opposite to the living room, so hopefully her dad wouldn't see her climbing down the tree or getting into Ezuka's SUV.

Sakarya focused on the tree in front of her rather than the two story drop beneath her. Thankfully her window was large, so she didn't have to fit through a small square and the jump. She'd never snuck out before, so this was a first for her. She leaped the four feet to the large branch and struggled to grab a hold of it. She could feel the air get knocked out of her as the branch roughly collided with her stomach. Now she just climbed down the trunk, having done this part a million times. When she was little, she and her mother would always play outside around the house. One of her favorite things to do was climb the trees scattered across their small lot.

She could hear a car coming down the road now, and she cursed mentally when she landed roughly on her left foot. Ignoring the pain, she hurried to the now parked car, giving a small wave to Ezuka before she got in the backseat. She had brought her brother Eroh with her.

"Hey Sakarya, East Temple right?" Ezuka said, looking through her rear view mirror to see Sakura nod.

"Wait, what? I thought you were taking me to drive-thru for breakfast? What the hell is going on?" Eroh demanded, looking back at Sakarya with a glare before glaring at his sister.

Ezuka shrugged her shoulders. "That was a cover story. Sakarya needed an emergency ride, I need an alibi, and you're back up in case something goes wrong. We all have a job here, Eroh," The dark haired girl answered.

Eroh gave a grunt and crossed his arms, an angry pout on his face. Sakarya rolled her eyes. He could be such a baby.

The drive wasn't too long to the temple, but it was up in the woods. They lived in the suburbs of Republic City, so nothing was too long of a drive.

As soon as they parked, Sakarya hopped out of the car and started her way towards the temple. It was a bit up there, but nothing she couldn't hike up for a few minutes. Ezuka and surprisingly Eroh followed her without question.

Once they got to the top, they were all a bit out of breath but Sakarya continued on into the room. The temple was empty, thank goodness. Only the sounds of nature seemed to surround them. In the room were symbols carved into the wood, telling the journey of the statue. She recognized the tall statue immediately. Avatar Aang stood tall and proud, his wise, stone eyes so life-like.

She sat cross legged in front of the statue and prepared herself to meditate.

"She dragged us here for a stupid statue?" Eroh said, earning an elbow to the gut from his sister. It effectively shut him up.

Sakarya evened out her breathing, and closed her eyes softly.

 _She was in the temple still, but her body was bigger than normal. She could also feel the scratch of facial hair along her jawline. She was Avatar Aang once more. He was standing right outside the room she was currently meditating in, a pale girl to his right. It seemed like the temple was under construction, being built to be what it is. He turned to face her and Sakarya was shocked to see her sea foam green eyes. They were glazed over, as if she was blind, but the black haired girl was staring right at Aang._

 _"Oh come on twinkle toes, it's not that bad," The girl- no, young woman- teased Aang._

 _He shrugged. "It's just weird having a shrine for me."_

 _The woman put her hands behind her head and looked back at the temple. "It was just Zuko's weird kinda royal gift to you. I mean, he is a Fire Lord. Makes sense he goes out of the way to give you a grand ol' present for the new city. The future people need to know who made their home anyway."_

 _Aang made a face. "I guess. I'm just glad the real construction is over. It was so loud with all the rock splitting," He said._

 _"Eh, not totally. But whatever. I'll leave you to your meditating thing," She said, leaving Aang as she began down the steps. "Later air head."_

 _Aang laughed. "Bye Toph."_

 _The Avatar went into the room, his statue not their yet and the carvings only half way finished. He placed his hand softly on the wood, feeling the carvings as he moved his hand gently over them._

 _Suddenly, Sakarya was pushed out of Aang's body, though she was still with him in the room. She looked around, and took a fearful step back when she saw Avatar Aang's spirit standing before her. He was tall, his beard gray and wrinkles around his eyes as though he smiled much in his life, but also on his forehead, like he had a lot of stress in life. Her mind rushed through different things she should do before she quickly decided to bow, albeit it was quite an awkward bow._

 _Avatar Aang chuckled. "Hello, Sakarya. I promise you, this is not a hallucination."_

 _"Then what's going on?" Sakarya asked, when her hands flew to cover her mouth. She had just spoken for the first time in her life. Her voice was soft and crackly, and her words came across as garbled, like a toddler was speaking. It sounded more like 'them wutz boin on?'. The Avatar gave her a soft, knowing look._

 _"We are technically in the spirit world here, as it is my memory, and your soul is quite a loud one, so it is possible for you to speak here. I'm afraid this is the only way I could communicate with you, bringing you to the places where my memories were made, and I'm sorry it's taken me this long to get a hold of you," He explained._

 _Sakarya tried to think of her words before she tried to speak again. The consonants came cross odd, but she managed to say, "Why is it me whose here?"_

 _Avatar Aang seemed like he was going to answer, but his head snapped to something behind her. His eyes widened in what seemed akin to fear. "We don't have any time, they're here," He said, rushing to Sakarya. He placed his hands on her shoulders. "I will try to help you the best I can, but it is still difficult to connect to you."_

 _"What?! Wait-!" Sakarya was cut off._

She was shoved back into her body, and the scene around her was the opposite of what she thought she would see. Eroh and Ezuka were standing with their back towards her, fighting off three men. They were protecting her, she realized.

The men wore old fashioned clothing, of which a peasant would have worn during the war. But the weirdest thing about them were their eyes. They were a glowing black, with no white. They had small red pupils, and their skin was glowing.

Everyone was caught up in the fight they didn't notice Sakarya standing. She felt no fear as she looked at these three sharp-fanged men. Instead, she could feel Avatar Aang in the back of her mind as she calmly walked towards them.

Now they noticed her, but they were too late, she had already started attacking them. Her light fire whipped around them, stronger than she'd ever felt it be before, but she was surprised at the strength in which they fought back. One was sending fire, but the other two were sending earth at them, and making the ground shake. Ezuka and Eroh started fighting with renewed energy. The temple was on fire, the wood crackling as the flames covered them. Smoke quickly started filling the room.

"We need to get out of here!" Eroh yelled, grabbing his sister. He threw a fireball at the closest attacker before grabbing Sakarya by the back of her shirt. She easily walked backwards, still sending whips of fire after the three men. As soon as they were out of the room, the presence of Avatar Aang disappeared from her mind and her bending flickered. It was back to its normal strength, but the three men were just getting stronger.

She turned and started running, the other two following her. She went down the hill next to the stairs and tried to not trip as she ran down. Her left ankle was hurting badly because of it, but she didn't slow down. The car was in sight, and they needed to get out of there.

Ezuka went past her brother and Sakarya, and went to the driver's door, but she stopped when she saw something. "All of the tires are slashed!" She yelled as the other two made it to the car.

"What?!" Eroh yelled, looking back and seeing the three men running down towards them.

"Run!" Ezuka yelled, taking off into the forest. Eroh and Sakarya went to the forest, and Sakarya threw flames at the three men, it landed in the grass and set it ablaze, forcing the men to stop and jump over it.

They seemed to run for hours, and they didn't let up. Only when Sakarya tripped did they stop. Ezuka helped her back on to her feet, but she was decided to just sit down. Eroh took a seat on a trunk next to her, just as breathless. The silence lasted a few minutes as they each listened in to see if they could hear anyone following them.

"What were those things?" Eroh asked, his voice quiet.

Sakarya put her head into her hands. She had no idea. Tears started falling as the adrenaline started leaving her. She took her phone out of her pocket, sniffling as she did so. She had just nearly died, and she had put Eroh and Ezuka in danger as well.

She typed in to her note pad app, giving Ezuka instructions. ' _Call the police, we're lost and those things might still be out here.'_

Sakarya handed her phone to Ezuka, who read the message and used Sakarya's phone to get a hold of the cops.

"Hi, we were just a-attacked at the East Temple," Ezuka spoke into the phone, her voice shaking. Eroh put his hand on to Sakarya's right shoulder when he saw her start crying again.

"There's three of us, and th-there were three men," She continued. She nodded. "Yes, we're firebenders."

"We're in the woods right now, and we don't know where we are. We just ran," Ezuka said.

"M-my name's Ezuka Mizok, my brother is Eroh Mizok, and we're with Sakarya Virra... o-okay," Ezuka said, pulling the phone away from her ear. She pressed a button and now the emergency operator was on speaker.

"Can you all hear me?" The operator asked.

"Yeah," Eroh responded, standing up and taking his hand off of Sakarya. She stood up as well, wiping her tears away.

A few seconds of silence. "Okay, my name is Mino. I'm going to guide you out of the forest. I've got the phone you're using on GPS, so just listen to me, alright?" Verbal answers saying okay.

Mino directed them south, until they found a creek. They followed that to the west. She said it would be about a ten minute walk, and police and ambulances were waiting for them at the edge of the forest. They were safe. Now the cops saw them. The next few minutes were a rush. Firefighters came tot he three teens, wrapping them in shock blankets and leading them to the road. Flashing red and blue lights were everywhere. Police everywhere. News reporters everywhere. Smoke in the distance that Sakarya could only guess was the temple. The shouts filled her senses, and the police dogs were barking, begging to be let go and hunt down what had terrorized the three firebenders. Cops were out in the woods now. They were staying away from Sakarya and Eroh, who were staring blankly at the ground. Ezuka was explaining what had happened, still in her shock blanket.

An arm went around Sakarya's shoulders and she saw Eroh give her a grim look. Tears started coming once more, and she leaned into the firebender. He put his head on hers and they sat there in silence. Sakarya was tired of crying, and she felt like such a baby, but she knew she had almost killed herself and her teammates.

They sat there for a few minutes before Sakarya heard a familiar voice. Her heart filled with relief and dread at the same time.

Her father spotted her immediately, going under the police tape and Sakarya dropped her blanket and ran into her father's arms. He hugged her tightly, and she could feel his rapid heartbeat in his chest.

"Don't ever do that again my little seal-otter, do you understand me?" He said, his voice uneven as he called Sakarya her childhood nickname. She sniffled and nodded quickly, still not letting her father go.

"Excuse me, sir, but we need to take your daughter to the station," A police officer interrupted. Sakarya let her father out of her arms and she felt Eroh come to her side.

"But it's not her fault this happened," The teen said, and it felt like a stab in her back as he said it. Yes, she ahd caused this. IT was her and her stupid dream that had made them almost die.

The police officer kept his gentle tone. "I'm sure it's not her fault, but all three of you need to go to the station. We need to get all the reports in."

Sakarya nodded, understanding the cop. This was just his job, and he was doing it the best he could.

The ride through downtown was a quiet, somber one. Eroh, Ezuka, and Sakarya shared the backseat as two police officers sat up front. The driver was the one who had told her she needed to go the station, and she didn't recognize the other one.

The firebender gulped when they drove past the front of it. The department was huge, almost castle-like. It was daunting to even the most formidable criminal, and it made the young teen want to turn tail and bolt. But she didn't. She needed to take the blame for what had happened. And she would do so without her hypothetical tail between her legs.

A little while later, the three of them were separated, each in an interrogation room. Sakarya sat at the table, and though she wasn't hand cuffed, she knew was being watch carefully through the two way mirror. The other two were being questioned first, and then it would be her turn.

Two men and a woman came into the room. Sakarya felt the panic in her chest rise when she saw the woman was Tarri Han, the new chief of police after Toph Bei Fong's daughter had retired. Sakarya tried to swallow it down, but was failing miserably.

Chief Han sat in the chair across from Sakarya, and the firebender tried to at least act like she wasn't go to die by meeting her eye to eye. The woman's face was stern, and so un-motherly it sent a chill down the teen's spine.

"Hello, Ms. Virra. I'm Chief of Police Tarri Han, but you can just call me Chief Han. I'm joined by Officer Lihing, and Officer Li. Officer Li will be translating your sign language for us today," She said, her voice just as cold as her expression. At least the other two officers, Lihing and Li, were giving her small smiles as greeting.

"Now, your friends tell me you're the one who wanted to go to the temple under the reason that 'it was an emergency', but that you had nothing to do with the attackers being there," Chief Han said, and Sakarya nodded. "Can you tell me what your emergency was, exactly?" The chief asked her.

Sakarya had already prepared for this. She knew she was going to be asked about her reasoning. She wasn't stupid. In the end, after about an hour of diligent thought, the girl decided the truth would be the best course. She didn't mess with police. She wasn't brave in the first place, and when faced with serious repercussions, she'd rather not bait the shark.

 _I had a vision of the Avatar,_ she signed. Officer Li relayed this. The chief's eyebrows shot up.

"The missing Avatar?" She asked.

Sakarya shook her head. _No, Avatar Aang._

"So you decided to go to his statue?" Chief Han said, to which Sakarya nodded her head yes. "What were you trying to do?"

 _I'm not sure. I guess just make sure the vision wasn't just a detailed dream._

"And was it?"

 _No, it was not a detailed dream._

"Your friends say that you meditated in front of Avatar Aang's statue, and when you seemed to reach the true meditation point, your eyes began to glow a light blue. What did you see?"

Sakarya was shocked at this information, and took a few moments to reply. _I didn't know about my eyes. But I was in Avatar Aang's body, talking to Toph Bei Fong while the temple was under construction. When Bei Fong left, and Avatar Aang went inside to meditate, I was pulled out of his mind and my spirit stayed in the room with him. Avatar Aang's spirit appeared to me and told me he had been trying to reach me._

Chief Han listened closely as Officer Li retold what she said. "Why was he trying to reach you?" She questioned.

 _I don't know, just that he'd been trying, and it had been difficult. He told me 'they're here', and I was in my body again, and these three guys were there attacking us._

Chief Han immediately stood up, talking quietly to Officer Li. She could barely overhear the words, "Call Master Rohan." Her eyes widened. They didn't mean who she thought they meant, did they?

Oh but they did. Not even an hour later, Sakarya was sitting across from Master Rohan. She was now in metal cuffs, allowing her just barely able to use sign language. Officer Li and Chief Han were in with them as well.

She felt uncomfortable as the man with the blue arrow tattoos studied her silently. He looked like a nice man, in his mid to late forties, and he was clean shaven unlike his father and grandfather had been at his age. She could see the likeness between him and his grandfather despite his asparagus green eyes.

"Ah, I have not introduced myself yet. I'm Rohan, and you, are Sakarya, yes?" He asked, and she nodded. She found it easier to look him in the eyes compared to Chief Han. "You are claiming to have visions of my grandfather, Avatar Aang. I'm here to see if you're telling the truth. Now, the vision you had at the temple took place when it was under construction, and Avatar Aang and Toph Bei Fong were talking, right?" Another nod. "What were they talking about?" He asked her.

 _They were talking about the temple. Avatar Aang found it weird to have a shrine for him, and Bei Fong said it was just Fire Lord Zuko's way of congratulating Aang on the city._ She answered. She hadn't known Fire Lord Zuko gave the temple as a gift for Avatar Aang, but it made sense. She supposed it was just something she zoned out for in history class.

She must have said something important, because Master Rohan looked at Chief Han and gave a sharp nod. He turned back to the firebender, a large smile on his face. Sakarya leaned back in her seat, worrying about the airbender's next words.

"Sakarya Virra, we have reason to believe you are the next Avatar."

Sakarya promptly laughed, although it was silent with the lack of a working voice box. The guy was insane! The Avatar is supposed to have been born an earthbender, didn't he know that?

But when Sakarya looked at his green eyes after she was done laughing, she realized something. Yes, he did know. And it didn't matter. Because she might be the Avatar.

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 **Dun dun dun! And the plot truly kicks off! I really tried to make this chapter longer for you guys, so I took a lot of what I was going to put in next chapter into this one. I'm not sure how long this story will be, but I will be adding a couple chapters together to make them longer. I just hope I wasn't jumping around too much to make sense.**

 **ALSO, if anyone would like to be a beta reader, I'd seriously appreciate it! Just give me a PM :)**

 **Leave a review if you want! :3**


	5. Chapter Five: Missing Elements

**Took a days break and now I'm back! I've got a very busy next few days are coming up, so I think this may be the last chapter of this week :( But I will write while I can't post, so I should have a couple of chapters to post on Monday or Tuesday :D**

 **Thanks to my Beta, secret love writer. He's doing an awesome job :)**

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Sakarya put her hand up, shielding her eyes from the flashes of the cameras that surrounded her as she walked out of the police department the next day. News reporters were all around her, shoving microphones at her and asking loud questions. To her right, Master Rohan seemed unfazed by the media, and gave a nod to one of the police officers that were walking ahead of them. Immediately police surrounded the two, pushing back the cameras and the voices.

"Sorry Sakarya, I didn't know they'd be this anxious to speak to you. They only know about the temple incident," Rohan said, his voice low enough for only the firebender to hear. She nodded, just focusing her gold eyes on her feet. She just wanted out of here, even if that meant accompanying the airbender to his home. And despite her asking, no family or friends would be coming with her. She would see her father tonight, and considering it wasn't even noon yet, she had quite a while to wait.

The girl hadn't seen her friends since the day before, but she was told they were released and were given no information, unlike her father, who had been told his daughter was going to Air Temple Island. It was the only information he had been given, and she was sorely missing the comforting presence of her father.

The next hour was spent deep in thought. These people had to be wrong. There was no way she was the Avatar. Even if it was possible for the next one to be a firebender rather than an earthbender, Sakarya just isn't a born leader. She was mute, she had some anger problems, she was shy. She could go on for days about what was wrong with her. It just felt wrong.

Sakarya was greeted warmly by the monks, the Air Acolytes, at the island. Rohan left her for a few minutes as the monks led her to a plaza that overlooked the bay. The monks left her, telling her to stay put, and she was on her own.

She sat down on the steps, looking out at the water. She was a firebender, that was all. Just a firebender. She shouldn't be the Avatar. It wasn't her role. Her role was growing up and becoming a teacher at a deaf school. She wanted to help others, but not in the way the Avatar could.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" A voice sounded, making Sakarya jolt up. She turned her torso to see a woman in casual clothing looking out at the bay, a forlorn look in her soft golden eyes. Sakarya nodded in response, turning back to the water.

The woman surprised her by taking a seat beside her. "My name is Kalla, I'm Rohan's wife. You're Sakarya, right?" She asked. The girl gave a small smile and nod to the woman. She seemed to be a kind and gentle person, and her presence eased some of Sakarya's frayed nerves.

"Oh, there you are Kalla," Came Rohan's voice from behind them. Both of them looked back, his wife saying hello and standing up while Sakarya just turned back to the view.

The two shared a hushed conversation, ending up with Kalla going back inside and Rohan going down the stairs. "Follow me please."

Sakarya got up, feeling her heartbeat quicken. That was happening a lot nowadays. She was going to give herself a heart attack at the age of fifteen.

The two stopped in the middle of the plaza, Rohan turning around to face the young girl. "So you don't believe you're the Avatar," He said. It wasn't a question, but still, Sakarya nodded an affirmative.

"Show me your firebending then. Fight me," He said, his eyebrows raising a bit in challenge to the teen.

The girl's golden eyes widened, fixated on Rohan's face. People kept doing unexpected things to her. It was starting to get old. Whatever, the old man wanted a fight, he'd get a fight.

With just a moment of thought, Sakarya swiped her leg quickly across Rohan's stomach, bringing a blaze of fire with it. Immediately, a burst of wind pushed her back, knocking her off of the one leg and onto the ground. Even though it was a rough landing and her behind now hurt, she got up and punched fireballs at the man, back and forth with her hands a few times. He easily deflected all of them. Now, she got a whip of fire and Rohan's eyes widened a bit as it lashed towards his face. It barely missed his left cheekbone when he jumped back. He bended a sharp and condensed ball of air into the middle of Sakarya's chest, knocking the air out of her as she was thrown several feet. She landed not so nicely on her back, and this time she stayed down.

That one hurt, she thought to herself.

"Not bad," The airbender said. Not bad? He beat me! She thought indignantly.

The man was now towering over her, more so than he was when she was standing. He offered out a hand and Sakarya gladly took it. The man easily pulled her back onto her feet and gave him a small smile of thanks.

The man sighed. "Really, not bad. There's a reason your school chose you for their team. Just keep in mind that I've been training longer than you've been alive. But what we need to worry about is what your abilities, not your capabilities," Rohan stated. "If you are the Avatar, you should be able to control all four elements versus just fire. You've already connected spiritually with yourself, perhaps you are having the opposite problem that Avatar Korra had..." He trailed off, now talking to himself, putting his hand on his chin.

One of Sakarya's eyebrows went up, and she locked eyes with the airbender. What did he mean by that?

Rohan crossed his arms. "Avatar Korra had problems connecting spiritually with the Avatar spirit, but was able to bend all four elements at a young age. Maybe you're the opposite, starting with spiritual skills instead of bending skills," He explained.

Sakarya wanted to tell him something, but couldn't think of how. "You know, I do understand sign language," Rohan said, making Sakarya blush. Her struggle must've been visible on her face. Of course he knew.

I doubt I'm the Avatar. It just doesn't feel right, she signed.

Rohan nodded. "I agree, it does feel odd. Perhaps it has to do with the cycle. The Avatar should be an earthbender, not you. I don't know. But you're showing definite signs of being the Avatar, so that might be what you're stuck with being."

Sakarya didn't like the sound of that.

Dinner was quiet, with only three of them at the table. Today had been a long process of trial and error. Quite frankly, Sakarya was sore all over. They had tried to see if she could bend the other elements, and if she didn't succeed, they tried more dramatic measures. Which was constantly and all the time. She could still only bend fire.

She definitely knew that. Drop a bunch of rocks on her? She got a bunch of bruises. Try and drown her? Rohan had to save her. Drop her off a cliff? Again, Rohan had to save her. Of course, those were the very last things they'd tried. At first, it was small, like trying to stop falling water, or lift a pebble without her body, or take a small ball of air from the bending master.

They had also tried sparring. Trying to use earthbending, waterbending, and airbending techniques while fighting did not come naturally to Sakarya. And instead of summoning one of the other three elements, what came out was always fire. Some of the moves were pretty cool, not what they wanted, but intriguing all the same. Like stomping on the ground, trying to move rocks? That ended up in a wave of fire originating near Sakarya's feet to blast towards Rohan.

But some others ended up with her on the ground. Trying to send a blast of air at her opponent ended with her practically flying backwards onto her head from the repercussion of the fire. That had felt like someone stabbed her in the brain, to say the least.

Kalla had given her an ice pack and when they sat down for dinner, got her a new one that she wrapped with gauze to her head so she could eat. A simple meal of rice and chicken, but plenty of it. Sakarya was starving. Kalla gave a small chuckle when the teen immediately dug into her food.

A thought came into her head. Rohan and Kalla seemed like they would make great parents, and yet Sakarya saw no kids around. She might them about it later. She didn't want to be rude.

It wasn't until the ferry boat ride an hour later that she would get a chance to ask. They were looking out at the water together again once more, with Sakarya leaning on the rail.

She stood up, facing the airbender. Hey, how come you and Kalla don't have any children? Sakarya asked, attempting to come across as polite as she could.

Rohan continued to look out at the water, though he had looked at her when she was speaking to him to read her hands. A few silent moments passed and Sakarya started to feel embarrassed.

I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked, she signed.

"No, it's alright. I was just trying to find a way to put it into words," He said. His voice had a tilt of sadness that made Sakarya's throat want close up. "We had two children, a little while ago. Two boys, three years apart. Kalla's a firebender, like you, and so was our younger son. Our older son was an airbender like me. When they were in their late teens, they... they went to Republic City for Rememberance Day, to celebrate it for the first time not at the island. They went with my nieces and nephews, and my older brother Bumi.

"It was later at night when it happened. My sons separated themselves from the group, to talk about something. But a few gang members thought it'd be fun to pick a fight with them. It got very serious, very quickly, and my younger son was shot. In retaliation, my older son killed all five of them by bending them against the stone walls of the alley. But my younger son died, and my older son felt so much guilt for not saving him and for killing all those people that he killed himself a few days later," He finished, a tear sliding down his left cheek.

Sakarya felt her heart burn in sadness for the two boys. She remembered hearing about that when she was twelve, but the public hadn't received much in the terms of names. She rested a hand on the man's shoulder, and he gave a small smile. He stood straighter, and the girl took her hand back.

"That was a few years ago. Time goes on, as weird as it feels to not have my children move on with it. Kalla and I have fallen on hard times since then, but we make it work," He finished.

The rest of the boat ride was in silence. The water slowly going by was mesmerizing to watch, and that's what Sakarya spent her time doing. It felt like a long time before they reached the city port. The two separated with a hug and a short goodbye as she was led by the captain off of the boat and onto the wooden dock. Her father was there, as was her mother and her two brothers. Her mother rushed towards Sakarya, enveloping her in a tight hug.

The firebender just hugged her back. She couldn't imagine being a parent that had lost their children, but her parents had gotten a glimpse of it yesterday with the temple. She would never forget that.

When her parents asked her why she had to spend the day at Air Temple Island, she told them she would say when they got home. Rohan had discussed this with her during dinner, and they both knew they shouldn't keep the truth from Sakarya's parents.

She awaited anxiously on the short car ride home. Her brothers gave her a hug before heading upstairs once they arrived at the house, under the direction of their parents. They sat the teen down on the couch and remained standing. Her father looked relaxed in all but his eyes, which were narrowed and every once in awhile his left eye would twitch. Her mother was the opposite, standing rigidly with her arms crossed, but her face was a blank slate.

"Tell us why they kept you at the island today, Sakarya," Her mother said, her voice soft.

A moment of silence, in which Sakarya said goodbye to her old life.

Finally, she brought her hands up to sign to her parents. I might be the Avatar.

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 **So I decided to give Rohan some back story. I tried to make it a little less conventional, and a bit different from the typical dead-kid-sad-story (not to sound insensitive, but still). I hope it wasn't too rushed or anything like that.**

 **If ya want, please leave a review :)**


	6. Chapter Six: School Representation

**New chapter now. Sorry for the big gap between this and the last chapter. This week has been so busy and I just kind of feel like curling up in a corner and sleeping. It's a short chapter, but I figured it was better than nothing, so enjoy!**

 **Thank you to my beta, secret love writer!**

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Sakarya took in a deep breath. She stood off to the side of the stage along with the other eight com-benders, unseen by the audience. They were on the platform in their school's auditorium, which could easily hold all students and then some. The principal was addressing the rowdy students. None of them knew what the assembly had been called for, but Sakarya had seen this coming for weeks.

In two days, Republic City High School would enter the Com-Bending Competitions, starting at Lower Level 1. It had been a month since Sakarya had learned of her possible Avatar connection, and she was going to a private bending studio and trained with Rohan every day after practice. It was weighing down on her, getting only Saturdays off at this point. As it was Thursday, she wouldn't get this coming Saturday off either due to the very first competition.

The firebender felt someone nudge her left side, and she looked up to see Eroh giving her a small smile. He was dressed in his red bending suit, just like everyone else was in their appropriate bending suit. She smiled back, an odd tight feeling in her stomach. She ignored it and looked back at the principle. She could worry about anything that was different than normal later on. She, Eroh, and Ezuka had become very close after the temple incident, and they even knew about her Avatar dilemma, unlike her best friend Amara. Sakarya was restrained by the police of Republic City, the only reason Sakarya could tell those two and no one else was because they said so. They were her teammates, they could be trusted; no one else could know.

Sakarya focused on the man talking on stage, clearing her mind out now because her anxiousness was making her thoughts reer off track.

"We now have our own official com-bending team. It consists of our nine best benders here at this school and they will represent us proudly. They have been in training for weeks at this point, and are participating in this weekend's event. Please welcome your water com-bending team!" The three went on to the stage. The principal stated their names, before calling the earthbenders out, calling their names out as well. When each team came out, a thunderous applause erupted from the students. Though the com-bending games were intimidating, every teenager was likely to be obsessed over them. It was their sport, after all. Only the highest of the highest levels contained adults.

Now it was time for the firebenders to go out. The principal called them out, and Ezuka lead them proudly, then Eroh, and with a deep breath, Sakarya followed. They turned facing the crowd, shoulder to shoulder. Their stance was rigid but easy, their two fists placed without pressure against each other in the formal stance of the com-benders.

The crowd went insane. Sakarya fought the urge to flinch at the sound level. People were standing and applauding, for some reason more excited for the firebenders than the other two teams. It made Sakarya feel pride in herself and her two friends. The principal could barely announce their names because of the noise. The girl felt a smile come to her face. This was probably the nicest part about being a com-bender.

You're adored.

That day after school, the training of the three teams would be public and open to the students to watch. The bleachers of the small gym filled, and the doorways had students in them as well.

The benders tried to ignore them to the best of their abilities. Their classmates cheering them on boosted some, but made others nervous. Sakarya was doing her best to block them out as she and her teammates were in a mock-fight against the earthbenders. They had already gotten two down, and that meant Eroh and Ezuka were busy keeping them down. The final bender was left to Sakarya to take care of.

It had been a few minutes now, and she was starting to lose her drive. She tried swiping flames across him, sending fireballs aimed straight for him, but he always seemed a step ahead. They had gotten to this point against each other before, and it was fifty-fifty on how many times either of them had won. His stone disks had been grazing her for the past few hits, and they started hurting.

Sakarya noticed something in the bleachers behind the earthbender and saw something she would never have expected. Rohan was watching her with intense curiosity, his airbending tattoos uncovered for all to see. A few students were gawking at him, but most were watching the fight or the waterbenders practicing. He gave her a nod and Sakarya smiled, feeling more than ready.

She ran at the earthbender, and he attempted to fly disks into her torso but she sidestepped the three he had aimed well. Only a few steps from him did she come to a halt, stomping harshly on the ground and lifting her arms and pushing them out. A wall of fire as big as the other bender appeared and collided into him, sending him flying backwards. He landed harshly, he didn't try to get on his feet and gave a thumbs up instead, Sakarya gave a silent laugh. It was the first time she had tried that move and she was excited to see it work so well.

The students had loudly screamed in glee after the move, but Rohan did not join in. In fact, when Sakarya caught his gray eyes, it seemed as though he was a bit shocked. She would need to talk to him later, but right now she was being enveloped in a big, sweaty hug.

"That was awesome Sakarya!" Eroh exclaimed, loosening his grip now and taking a step back. "Where'd you learn to do that?!" He asked, excited as he could get and oblivious to the approaching airbender behind him. Sakarya smiled and rolled her eyes. Once he got over his gloomy phase, Eroh wasn't all that bad, but he still didn't know sign language.

Rohan stopped next to the boy, who immediately took a step aside. "Practice is cancelled tonight. Rest, and we will talk tomorrow," He said, leaving the gym afterwards.

"Well that was weird," Ezuka said, coming up to join her teammates.

Eroh shrugged, his excitement worn down from the weird add in from the master. "Well we are talking about Rohan here. He doesn't make sense to me, but he does make sense."

"I think that's the most stupid thing to ever come out of your mouth," Ezuka replied without missing a beat.

"Oh shut up!" Eroh weakly defended himself.

Oh man, they don't stop with this do they? Sakarya thought. The more comfortable the two had gotten around the mute girl, the more like siblings they acted. Gone were the days of rational speaking, replaced with unintelligent insults and repetitive arguing. The three of them got along very well, but Eroh and Ezuka liked to fill the time with useless banter for fun.

Only an hour later was practice really over. Ezuka had taken to driving the team home, dropping Sakarya off before heading to her family's house. The hot air inside the car wasn't helped much by the windows being down. For this time of year it was a warm day.

"You ready for Saturday, Sakarya?" Eroh asked, looking back at her.

I am, but not really at the same time. Not sure what to expect, she typed into her phone before handing it to him.

He read it and replied with feeling the same way. That was how most of their conversations went. They either used notebook paper or their phones so Sakarya could add in on the conversation. Ever since her vision of Avatar Aang she'd been trying to speak, to no avail. The conversations were good though, and full of average teenage stupidity. It was something Sakarya had grown to look forward to at the end of the day.

The twenty minute ride was over too soon for the firebender, and she waved goodbye as she hopped out of their new car. After the old one being destroyed at the temple, they had received their mother's car because she had wanted a new one anyway. It was nice to have a ride, rather than the bus.

She looked at her house, dreading to go in. There was always a police officer present, just to make sure nothing was after Sakarya. She hated it, but she understood the reasons he was there. So when she went inside she said a short hello to him and headed into the kitchen, grabbing a small fruit. She headed upstairs, texting her dad she was home as she went.

Her plans included sleeping, and more sleeping. Because in less than forty-eight hours, she had her first com-bending tournament.

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 **Review if you liked it! I'd really appreciate it! :)**


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